Glazed elements such as a glass window, a glass door, a glass wall, a glass façade or the like separating the interior from the exterior of buildings are usually designed and built with a fixed frame, at least one openable casement and one or several sealing means also called gaskets which obstruct the space between the fixed frame and the openable casement of the glazed element, to prevent water penetration.
As the glazed elements are generally intended to be used in building envelopes, residential or not, a safety glass may be suitable to ensure protection of people from injuries and fall. It is especially the case when the glazed elements have large dimensions. Safety glasses are for instance thermally treated glasses or laminated glasses.
The thermal treatment of the glass sheets can generate large scale deformation. In standard glazed elements comprising thermally treated glass sheets, the deformation is not an issue because the gaskets are located between the fixed frame and frame elements of the openable casement. On the contrary, in the case of a frameless glazed element wherein some or all frame elements of the openable casement are absent, one or several glass sheets of the casement can be in direct contact with the gaskets and the deformation might be an issue in terms of water tightness.
Furthermore, glass sheets used in frameless applications generally comprise an enamel layer on the periphery to mask elements such as the hardware means. The enamel requires a thermal treatment to be fired. The periphery of the glass sheet being different, it will hence react differently from the rest of the sheet upon thermal treatment leading to increased deformation with regards to glass sheets that are homogeneous on their faces. The glass sheets used in frameless applications generally also comprise low-emissivity or solar control coatings to improve the insulating performances, which are edge deleted. When both an enamel peripheral layer and an edge deleted coating are used, the glass sheet periphery is even more different from the rest of the glass sheet.
This combination of elements makes the contact between the gaskets and the thermally treated glass sheets more difficult. Water tightness is hence challenging for frameless glazed elements.